The Oklahoma Sooners won a major recruiting battle on Friday night when they landed a commitment from 2026 four-star quarterback Bowe Bentley. Bentley chose the Sooners over the LSU Tigers. Bentley had a number of Power Four offers from across the country.
One wouldn’t think the Sooners could pull off this kind of recruitment given their record under Brent Venables. However, anyone who’s willing to look beyond the box score understands that it isn’t simply a matter of execution on the football field.
Venables’ first year in Norman was marred by a lack of defensive talent. The Sooners lost defensive stars from the Alex Grinch/Lincoln Riley era, like Nik Bonitto, Perrion Winfrey, Brian Asamoah, Isaiah Thomas, and Dellarin Turner-Yell, to the NFL, and weren’t left with a lot of depth. That led to a defense that allowed 30 points per game in 2022. Certainly not typical of a Brent Venables defense.
In 2023, the defense improved, and the offense was really good as well, and Oklahoma went 10-3. Still not the expectation, but significantly better and a step in the right direction, especially on defense.
Then last year, nothing went right for the offense. It was already an uphill battle as Oklahoma was replacing all five offensive line starters from 2023 and going from one of the most experienced quarterbacks in college football, Dillon Gabriel, to a talented former five-star quarterback, Jackson Arnold. Injuries along the offensive line and at wide receiver set the Sooners’ offense back before it ever got started, and Oklahoma limped to a 6-7 season.
After two 6-7 years, one would think the bottom was about to drop out on the recruiting trail with the Oklahoma Sooners. But Bentley’s commitment shows that’s far from the case. Sure, he and his family…
Source link : https://soonerswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/sooners/recruiting/2025/06/21/oklahoma-sooners-football-bowe-bentley-brent-venables-recruiting/84298670007/
Author :
Publish date : 2025-06-21 17:22:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
